Coming soon: Art Micro-Patronage is the brainchild of San Francisco friends Eleanor Hanson Wise and Oliver Wise, founders of art subscription service The Present Group. Art-Micropatronage is described as “an experimental online exhibition space featuring monthly curated shows of digital, new media, and intermedia work. As visitors navigate through the exhibitions, they will be encouraged to become micro-patrons of the arts, associating their appreciation of the works with small monetary values. Only patrons will be able to view the exhibitions once the show is over and they will receive a link and image as recognition for their generosity.”
This project poses a lot of possibility as a means of engaging with the still-developing realm of online micro-patronage; it is also a distinct consideration of online curatorial practice, too, as AMP backs proposals for web-based projects with curatorial stipends and development funds. (Interested parties should sign up on the website for more information on the curatorial program—the parameters of which, I might add, are wonderfully open.)
Finally, it’s really great to see Eleanor and Oliver work toward launching AMP, as I’ve been continually heartened by the agile quality of their projects since The Present Group came online in 2006. TPG has grown and changed over the years, employing the Web in various ways—including their own Web hosting service—as a means of supporting artists. The methods and metrics of success for this project aren’t entirely unclear, which makes it even more compelling from an experimental standpoint.
Never, ever underestimate Bay Area Internet, folks.
